can anyone be glorious?

President of Turkmenistan, Saparmyrat Niyazov, a.k.a. "The Great Turkmenbashi"

Psalm 66:1-12

For Sunday, October 14, 2007 (Proper 23)

In today's secular, cynical, and egalitarian world can anyone truly be 'glorious'? This Psalm begins by encouraging God's people to "shout joyful praises" and to "sing the glories of his name". I sense a stale danish coming on. My mind begins to wander to what I've heard about a certain Central Asian dictator with a remarkably positive self-image.

Yet what if someone really was glorious? "His name is glorious... his deeds are awesome... he rules forever by his power." The Bible claims there is such a being: the one true God. He created this earth as a marvelous place for us, and despite its defacement, its wonder endures. This God promised to bless all the peoples of the earth through a single man named Abraham, and to this day, he remains committed to this promise, as evidenced by a global church that while flawed, remains humanity's last and only hope. Empires have come and gone, and while the most powerful ever currently bestrides the earth, the American empire, its power is nothing compared to what the one true God could do in an instant of his choosing.

Psalm 66 closes, "We went through fire and flood but you brought us to a place of abundance." There is a place of abundance available for each of us today: it is the gospel, with Christ at its center. Call on the name of the Lord, be forgiven, and be saved. God is glorious indeed.